- Movement
- Manual winding
- Size
- 40 mm
Overview
A wristwatch marine chronometer
The F.P. Journe Chronomètre Souverain Black Label, reference CS, in platinum on a leather strap with the blackened guilloché silver dial and rhodium-plated steel hands. 40 mm and 8 mm high, manually wound on calibre 1304 in 18K rose gold, with small seconds at 7:30 and the power reserve at 3 o'clock.
The Black Label version, produced between 2006 and 2021, sets a blackened guilloché silver dial with rhodium-plated steel hands in a platinum case. F.P. Journe explains the collection by its output of about 900 watches a year: it wanted a still more exclusive piece, reserved for people who already own one of its watches.
F.P. Journe modelled the Chronomètre Souverain on the marine chronometers of the early nineteenth century, the instruments that kept time at sea so that a ship's longitude could be worked out. The wristwatch keeps their priorities: hours and minutes, a separate small seconds and a reserve indicator. It received the Best Men's Watch prize at the Geneva Grand Prix d'Horlogerie in 2005, and the brand calls it a model of reference.
Calibre 1304 is 4 mm thick, with base plate and bridges in 18K rose gold. Its two mainspring barrels run in parallel, sharing the load rather than one feeding the other, so the force reaching the escapement stays close to linear through the 56-hour reserve and the rate changes little as the springs unwind. The balance is free-sprung, adjusted by four inertia weights on its rim rather than a regulator index, with a flat Anachron spring; the escapement beats at 21,600 vibrations an hour.
For collectors
F.P. Journe regulates its chronometers in Geneva, and in Journe's own account a steady deviation elsewhere in the world is a change of gauging, not of precision: a watch that gains the same two seconds every day is doing what a chronometer should, as a ship's captain once allowed for his chronometer's known rate. Consistency, not a zero reading, is the measure the Souverain is built for.
Key details
Design and engineering
- Twin barrels in parallelTwo barrels driving the train together, rather than in series, keep the delivered force nearly flat across most of the reserve. Full wind takes 38 turns of the crown.
- Free-sprung balanceThere is no regulator index. The rate is set by four inertia weights on the balance rim, which leaves the flat Anachron micro-flamed spring undisturbed. Amplitude is 320° dial-up at full wind and 280° after 24 hours.
- Extra-flat constructionThe movement is 4 mm high and the cased watch 8 mm, which F.P. Journe describes as particularly slim.
- DialCentral hours and minutes, small seconds at 7:30 and the reserve at 3 o'clock. Time is set with the two-position crown pulled to position 2.
- DecorationPartly circular-grained base plate with barleycorn guilloché, polished screw heads with chamfered slots, pegs with polished rounded ends.
Calibre 1304
- Manual winding, 38 turns of the crown
- Base plate and bridges in 18K rose gold
- Two mainspring barrels in parallel; pallet escapement with 15-tooth escape wheel
- 21,600 vibrations per hour, 22 jewels
- Power reserve 56 ± 2 hours
- 30.40 mm overall diameter, 4.00 mm high, 161 parts
The reference
Technical specifications
| Reference | CS |
|---|---|
| Collection | Black Label |
| Calibre | Calibre 1304 |
| Movement | Manual winding |
| Movement material | 18K rose gold |
| Functions | Central hours and minutes, Sub-second at 7h30 |
| Case dimensions | 40 mm |
| Case thickness | 8 mm |
| Case material | Platinum |
| Dial | blackened guilloché Silver |
| Hands | rhodium plated Steel |
| Strap | Leather strap |
| Jewels | 22 |
| Power reserve | 56 ± 2 hours |
| Movement parts | 161 |
| Distribution | Black Label collection: offered by F.P. Journe only to owners of an F.P. Journe watch, and sold only in its boutiques and Espaces. |
| Status | No longer in the current collection |
Buying with HYPA
Purchase with confidence
- Warranty card status disclosed for every piece we sell
- Free insured delivery within Australia · international quoted
- Payment by bank transfer
- Registered Australian dealerHYPA International Pty Ltd · Registered Victorian second-hand dealer, Registration No. SHD-0018017.
- Direct specialist supportSpeak with the HYPA team before, during and after the purchase.
- Rated 5.0 on Google · 6 reviewsFrom clients of HYPA International on Google. Read the reviews
Before you buy
Guides and market reports
Continue browsing
